Happiness is the Problem is a two-act opera about three struggling roommates in Brooklyn: Julie, Emily and Maureen. Their fortune begins to change when Julie, a bioanthropsychopharmacologist, discovers an elixir of happiness derived from the secretions of slug mucus, which they bottle and sell as 'Euphoressence.' Happiness is the Problem: Act 1 21'52 Prelude Recitative I Not a Good Situation Aria I Euphoreka Recitative II There's Only One Conclusion My Friends Aria II No Way Recitative III Let's Call It a Happiness Reaction Aria III For a Limited Time Recitative IV Neither Typical Nor Predictive Trio Who Needs Happiness Happiness is the Problem: Act 2 20'43 Prelude Recitative V Natural Selection Plus Des Moines Aria IV Being Happy is a Full-Time Job Recitative VI Crazy High School Science Fair Acid Flashback Aria V The Trouble with Being a Prodigy Recitative VII The Vaseline Glories of the Past Aria VI Maureen Chun: Corporate Star Recitative VII Always-Beyond-the-Horizon-Kind-of-Thing Finale Happiness is Not the Same Erin Flannery, soprano Deanna Neil, soprano Lisa Komara, mezzo-soprano Domenica Fossati, flute Jason Cady, clarinet and synthesizer Katie Young, bassoon Anne Guthrie, horn Ben Holmes, trumpet Sam Kulik, trombone Joe Bergen, vibraphone and percussion Tomas Fujiwara, drum set Mary Halvorson, electric guitar Erica Dicker, violin Jessica Pavone, viola Loren Dempster, cello Tim Dahl, contrabass Recorded by Clay Holley at Studio 75 and Truth and Soul, Brooklyn, NY Mixing and additional recording by Joel Hamburger at Gdel String, Brooklyn, NY Mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering, Brooklyn, NY Front and back photo by Kevin Irby Happiness is the Problem is dedicated to Mary Halvorson. It has been performed at Roulette, Le Poisson Rouge, Issue Project Room, the Wilmette Theater and The Stone. Jason Cady is a composer of experimental vocal and chamber music. The Wire described his one-act opera, Post-Madonna Prima Donna, as, thoughtful satire, sharp composition. Cady has an M.A. in composition from Wesleyan University, where he studied with Alvin Lucier and Anthony Braxton. His undergraduate degree is in Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance from Arizona State University, where he studied composition with Richard Lerman and Harold Budd, in addition to training in visual art. He was born in 1974 in Flint, Michigan and has lived in Brooklyn, New York since 2001.
